The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday dismissed legal proceedings against a captain of a naval warship accused of negligence resulting in the death of a sailor have been halted because the statute of limitations had run out, while the victim’s family pleaded for justice.
Chen Pi-e (陳碧娥), mother of naval conscript Huang Kuo-chang (黃國章) who allegedly committed suicide more than 20 years ago, said she could not accept the court’s “stay of proceedings,” which effectively meant charges have been dropped against naval captain Feng Yi-cheng (馮逸成), the man in command of the warship and accused of professional negligence in Huang’s death.
“Right now, I feel so powerless. The case has returned back to the original starting point,” Chen said, as she wiped tears from her eyes.
“Please don’t be so cruel to us. This is painful torture for the victim’s family, as the courts’ decisions have hurt us again and again,” Chen said.
Chen said her son’s case was among the most well-known of suspicious deaths or alleged suicides during military service, and was important for society, so she was very disappointed at the outcome.
“Now I feel there is no hope for all the other wrongful death cases in the military. There is no future for prosecution and judicial proceeding on these cases,” she said.
“I ask President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to direct her atttention to these wrongful death cases in the military. This is also the task for transitional justice for the new government,” she said.
Feng, the only person charged in the death of the naval conscript and who was present at the court’s announcement, said: “I respect the court’s decision.”
The navy said that Huang, then a seaman second class, committed suicide in June 1995 by jumping off the Nanyang destroyer in the Taiwan Strait.
However, Chen suspected Huang was murdered, since he had repeatedly complained of physical abuse and undue punishment by older crew members, and because when her son’s body was found off the coast of China, there were signs of external wounds.
Photographs taken by Chinese authorities showed Huang had sustained head wounds, with a nail piercing his skull, and other objects lodged inside his head, according to Chen and investigators who made detailed examination of the pictures.
Navy prosecutors decided not to proceed with the case in 1997, but it was reopened by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office in late 2013 after the Executive Yuan established the Military Injustice Petition Committee in response to massive public protests demanding justice for Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘), an army conscript who died at an army base in Hsinchu County after being punished with solitary confinement and harsh physical exercise regimes.
Feng was originally charged with murder in Huang’s death, but when Kaohsiung prosecutors reopened the case, they indicted him on charges of professional negligence causing death.
The district court yesterday decided proceeding with the case, saying prosecutors had not presented new evidence for the trial and the statute of limitations on the case had run out.
Critics said the justice system seemed to have come under pressure from the military, and that the process had been impeded at every turn.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS